Friday, May 1, 2009

Tip - Gardening and P-Touch

Last year, when starting the garden, I had these markers. They include a little golf-sized pencil in a package of 25 "T-Labels." You can find them at Wal-Mart for somewhere around $3. I was going to be good about marking everything, but I didn't care for the way the pencil looked, not to mention that without going over it several times, you couldn't really read what it was.

I decided to write it on the backside with a pen and utilize a P-Touch to print labels for the front side making it what was visible. I wasn't sure how weatherproof they would be. After the garden decided it was finished for 2008 and the remains had been removed, I forgot to take in the labels. I just pulled them back out of the ground this week and washed them off. As you can see, they still looked perfect and totally reusable even after going through rain, sleet, snow, hail, sun, and anything else you can think of. They really survived much better than I ever imagined they would. And now they're usable for this year as well. Since I'm planting different things, will just be pulling off the old labels and replacing them with new ones.

I'm usually really bad at seeds, but I decided to try again. I just started some seeds, April 27th, to see if I could get them to survive this time around. I was really surprised at how quickly they're starting to sprout. I've gotten some established plants to plant, but then decided to try Cherry Tomatoes and Sweet Pepper from seeds. Then I also planted some flowering things for other areas. The Cypress Vines and Cardinal Climber Vine have already come up by inches after just two days. It's amazing. They actually grew by an inch within something like four hours the second day. The Cherry Tomatoes have just started emerging today. Those are the ones that I'm really hoping do well. Below is the tray. Some of these may have to be moved soon so the others can have the greenhouse cover - the anxious ones have forced the top off now. Now I just have to see if I can get them to survive and actually produce either vegetables or blooms!